


Phone Days

by t0tally_awes0me



Series: Book of (Mormon) Oneshots [3]
Category: The Book of Mormon - Parker/Stone/Lopez
Genre: Eventual Resolution and Fluff, F/M, Little bit of angst, M/M, bom secret santa 2018, words of wisdom from arnold and naba
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 14:15:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17346725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/t0tally_awes0me/pseuds/t0tally_awes0me
Summary: Set in post-play canon, the boys are still in Uganda and can only use the phone for ten minutes a month. Kevin spends all his time talking with a cheerful young woman. Connor is, needless to say, jealous. With a little help from Arnold and Naba, though, Connor comes to peace with his feelings.





	Phone Days

**Author's Note:**

> Written for @palebagel (on Tumblr) for BOM Secret Santa 2018! I had a blast, thank you so much to the mods and everyone who participated.

“Phone day!” Nabalungi burst into the sleepy mission hut, clunky 90s phone in hand, ready to hand it off to the first person who wanted it. 

That person was always Kevin. Even though it was barely six in the morning, he was up and ready. The big red circle on his calendar reminded him that today was phone day: his one chance a month to talk to the person he loved the most back home and feel rejuvenated. “Dibs!” he shouted as he practically exploded from his room, a smiling Arnold trailing behind him, ready to greet Naba in a crushing hug.

After giving Naba a quick smile and embrace, Kevin took the phone from her and fell dramatically onto the couch, punching in the numbers he knew by heart.

“Good morning everybody!” Connor stretched as he entered the living room, the sound of a half-asleep Poptarts shushing him before he gently closed the door. Connor looked absolutely flawless this morning (like he did every morning), but it was as if he didn’t even try. Today he wore a light rose polo with a baby blue tie. Now that they weren’t technically a part of the church, he figured he could play with the wardrobe a bit.

“Morning, Connor!” Naba and Arnold greeted him in exact unison, which sent them into a fit of giggles. Connor loved that.

“Morning Kevin,” Connor smiled at who he’d been referring to in his mind as “the mission hut hottie.”

“Hey Con,” Kevin returned quietly, obviously waiting for someone to pick up on the other end. Connor loved when Kevin shortened his name like that. It was beyond cute. “How did you sleep?”

Connor smiled at the question. Just fine, actually. He hadn’t had any hell dreams since the excommunication fiasco. It was a godsend. “Pretty great, actually, I—”

“Oh my God, Katie!” In a split second, Kevin seemed to forget all about Connor and instead got very wrapped up in an animated conversation with whoever this ‘Katie’ person was.  
Connor couldn’t help but frown. In the old days, he might have tried to suppress his disappointment, but now he found it unavoidable. It’s okay. You’re okay. He tried to calm himself down. He’s just excited to be talking to her...whoever “her” is. He only gets ten minutes a month; let it go.

Deciding to wait for the next time slot to use the phone, Connor laid down on the couch across from Kevin and tried not to look like he was watching Kevin (he was). Arnold and Naba were at the kitchen table in the other room finishing an intense game of Monopoly from the night before, but other than that, the mission hut was quiet.

Connor pretended to be staring at the ceiling, but his gaze crept ever closer to where Kevin sat, his free hand making exaggerated gestures as he spoke and his voice rising and falling animatedly. Connor loved how Kevin’s eyes lit up when he got going about something he was really passionate about. Usually it was Disney or his family or animals. Today, Connor was surprised to hear, it was about everyone’s favorite little girl in the village: Nasiche. Both her parents had died within the same year, leaving the village elders to care for her in rotation.

“And then, she blew milk out her nose! How funny is that!” Kevin finished his story about Nasiche. Connor smiled happily. The girl really was a joy to be around. On the other side of the living room, Kevin sighed sweetly, “She reminds me a lot of you, Katie. I miss you so much.”

Connor frowned, his mood instantly soured. He thought about getting up and going back to his room, as he didn’t particularly feel the need to be bummed out right now. Either way, Connor couldn’t make up his mind, so he ended up just lying there for a good ten minutes trying to will himself to get off the couch. Eventually, he got frustrated waiting for Kevin to get off the phone and half-stormed into the kitchen where Arnold and Naba were in a surprisingly civilized exchange of rent and property.

“What’s got ya down, buddy?” Arnold asked, clearly noticing Connor’s (metaphorical) frayed edges as he plopped down on an empty chair.

Connor sighed, rubbing his hands frustratedly through his hair. “Kevin’s been on the phone for almost twenty minutes now: way more than his allotted time! Doesn’t he know the rest of us have people to call, too?” Connor didn’t actually have people to call. He was just planning on ringing up an acquaintance from high school, maybe one of the girls that used to be on the dance team with him. He wasn’t sure what they would talk about, but still, his point stood. “Everyone gets the same amount of time each month, and we can’t go over our minutes again.” Connor shot a glare back to the the living room where Kevin was sitting, boring holes into his skin as payment for the time Kevin really wracked up the minutes and the whole mission hut owed the phone company an extra hundred dollars they didn’t have.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, bud,” Arnold soothed, leaning over to give Connor a quick pat on the shoulder. “I give Kev my ten minutes a month so he can spend that extra time talking to Katie. He misses her a whole lot, and I’ve got all I need right here.” He motioned grandly to Nabalungi, almost whacking her in the chin as he did so, then enveloping her in what must have been a crushing hug.

Connor couldn’t help but smile when he was around these two. Sure, he still felt awful that Kevin was talking to a girl he clearly favored more than himself. Sure, he wished Kevin’s face lit up whenever Connor walked in a room the same way it did when he first heard Katie’s voice this morning. Sure, it still hurt. But it hurt a little less.

“We’ve found that Kevin is a little...easier to deal with...when he gets more time on the phone,” Naba winked at Connor from across the table, speaking the truth, as always.

“Yeah,” Arnold spoke, gazing into Nabalungi’s eyes. Connor adored the way Arnold looked at his girlfriend. He wished someone would look at him like that. “I don’t really need any time on the phone, and I know he would do the same for me, so…” Arnold simply shrugged as if to say ‘it is what it is.’

“That’s...” so nice, Connor started to say, but he was too busy making a decision to finish his sentence. “Thanks,” he simply said as he got up and walked quickly back into the living room, the sound of dice rolling behind him.

“Hey, Katie, I’ve only got about a minute left before I have to go...anything else you want to talk about before I hang up?” Connor walked in on the tail end of Kevin’s conversation and started waving his hands at him and mouthing ‘Kevin’ to get his attention.

Kevin looked up, obviously in a happy mood from a good twenty minutes of catch-up. “One sec, Katie, someone’s trying to talk to me,” Kevin put the phone to his shoulder and raised an eyebrow, motioning to Connor that he was listening.

“You can stay on for another ten minutes if you’d like,” Connor spoke so softly his voice was almost a whisper.

Kevin’s face scrunched up in confusion. “But I just—”

“I don’t really have anyone to call today, so...go for it.” Connor smiled, almost completely genuinely.

“Thank you so much!” Kevin practically squealed, not wasting another second talking to Connor when he could be talking to Katie. Gosh, he could be such a jerk sometimes. Still, Connor thought as he walked back to the kitchen, it was worth it to see the smile on his face.

As Connor sat down to watch Naba finish crushing Arnold at their hours-long board game, he heard Kevin telling Katie in the other room: “Yeah, that was my friend Connor. He’s so cool and sweet. I think he’s one of my favorite people here.”

Connor couldn’t help but blush.

* * *

The next phone day, Kevin found a sticky note outside his door that said ‘You can have my ten minutes again today. Have fun talking to Katie. ~Connor.’ Overwhelmed with joy, he practically snatched the phone out of Nabalungi’s hands (not without a quick ‘good morning’ and a peck on the cheek first, of course), and dialed the nine digits that would let him reach his favorite girl.

When his time on the phone was up, Kevin headed into the kitchen where Connor sat alone, eating a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast and people-watching from the window. “Hey,” Kevin sat down across from Connor and got his attention. “Thanks so much for letting me have your minutes these last two months,” he said. “I don’t know if you know how much it means to me, but I really care about Katie a lot, and it means the world to me to be able to speak with her for just a few more minutes a month. I think I might die if I only heard her voice for ten minutes every thirty days.”

Wow, Connor thought, Kevin must be really lovesick if he believes that. He sighed a little, internally, but smiled slightly on the outside. “More like two minutes a month with the amount of time you talk,” he teased. Kevin laughed with full-force, his head thrown back, tendrils of his hair shaking as he chuckled. Connor hated how much he loved that. 

“I guess,” Kevin grinned. Connor’s knees felt weak.

“How come I haven’t heard of Katie before, anyway?”

“You haven’t?” Connor could tell he’d just released the floodgates. “Oh my gosh Connor, she’s the sweetest thing, you’d love her so much!” Kevin launched into an impassioned ramble about his phone buddy. How she was such a talented painter, but her true love was writing. How much she loved baking cookies, especially for holidays. How she was so devoted to the church, even though she wasn’t bothered in the least by Kevin’s recent...situation. How she saw herself more as devoted to helping and loving people than to following all the arbitrary rules of the church.

Connor sat there, nodding along, laughing at all the right parts and watching Kevin’s hands move about instinctively. If Connor wasn’t so gosh-darn mesmerized by the man in front of him, he might accidentally fall asleep. He couldn’t care less about some girl from Utah. Especially some girl Kevin seemed to care so much about.

That’s the thing, though. Despite all the jealousy Connor was undeniably feeling, the fact that Kevin clearly cared about this girl made Connor start to care, too. Though he would have far preferred Kevin to be saying all those lovely, bragging things about him, it was still nice to hear him say it about someone. And who was Connor to argue if the mission hut hottie wanted to spend some time talking to him? Who cares what the subject was?

“So anyway, Connor,” the sound of his name brought Connor back from the depths of his mind, “I just wanted to say thank you. You’ve always been so kind to me, and I want you to know how much I appreciate you. You’re amazing.” Kevin smiled at Connor, and it spread all over his face. Connor soaked it in. The soft upturn of his lips. The hint of blush on his cheeks. The genuine kindness in his eyes. It was too much and it practically made Connor melt.

“You’re...you’re welcome,” Connor finally managed to say. “You can actually have my ten minutes every month, if...if you want.”

“Oh no, you don’t have to—”

“No, no, go ahead,” Connor interrupted. “Who am I gonna call, anyway?” He tried to smile, but it turned out more sad than sweet.

Connor couldn’t stop Kevin as he practically lunged across the table to give Connor a great big hug (a practice he’d recently picked up from Arnold). “Thank you, Con,” he whispered into his shoulder.

* * *

As the months went on, Connor got more and more used to the idea of Kevin having a girl at home he could call and say ‘I love you’ to. Sure, sometimes he still felt pangs of jealousy, but then he reminded himself that he should be grateful for the time he got to spend with Kevin, and that Kevin was more than allowed to have a life of his own.

Each week after that initial conversation, it seemed like the boys got closer and closer. Neither of them knew what it was, but that talk and that hug sparked something in each of them. It became easier and easier to do nice things for each other. They started hanging out and getting to know each other more. Connor felt himself falling harder and harder for this boy, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop. He didn’t care what the consequences were: he was going to enjoy his time with Kevin Price. 

One day, the day after phone day, in fact, Kevin and Connor sat on the roof of the mission hut, watching the sunset and fanning themselves with spare Book of Arnolds. There was less than a foot of space between them: just enough for two hands to be not-quite-touching. Not that Connor was paying attention to where their hands were.

“Hey Con?” Kevin spoke quietly.

“Mm?” Connor nodded, staring, captivated, at the horizon.

“Can I tell you something?”

“Of course,” Connor replied, something in Kevin’s tone of voice prompting him to turn so the two of them were face-to-face.

“I was talking to Katie,” Kevin spoke quickly, like he didn’t have time to stop for air. “I was talking to Katie, and she basically helped me realize that I...that I think I might...have a crush on you…” Connor’s eyes opened wide. “...and I know that’s kind of forthright to say, I know that, but she told me I was going to miss out on something big if I didn’t, and that she’s never heard me talk so fondly of someone before, and that I clearly like you, and that she would kill me if I didn’t say something to you soon, so…” Kevin trailed off, uncertain. “Is that okay?”

Connor’s brow crumpled in confusion. “Your girlfriend wanted you to tell me you had a…” he stumbled with the words, “...a crush on me?”.

Now it was Kevin’s turn to be confused. “Girlfriend?” he asked. The two of them stared blankly at each other for a second that felt like eternity. “You mean Katie?” Kevin’s face lit up, and he was practically howling with laughter.

Connor didn’t know what to think, so he just froze.

“Oh my gosh, Connor! Katie is my little sister. Katie Price. How could you think she was my girlfriend?”

Connor stumbled over his words, his brain still processing all this new information. Good information, just new. “You...you talk about her all the time, and you say how much you miss her and you say I love you and…” Connor trailed off, feeling like crying for some reason. For relief, or frustration, or joy, he wasn’t sure.

“Oh my gosh, Con, I talk about Disney all the time. I tell you how much I miss my grandma’s dulce de leche. I tell Arnold I love him, for Pete’s sake! Did you think I was dating any of them?” Kevin’s playful smile managed to calm Connor down, if just by a bit. “Besides,” he said, quieter, “I don’t even swing that way.”

This was a shock to Connor. Kevin didn’t strike him as particularly...gay. To be fair, though, he hadn’t met very many gay men in his life. “You...” Connor wasn’t sure quite how to phrase this. “You bat for the other team?”

“I bat for your team,” Kevin answered, and Connor thought it was the hottest thing he’d ever heard. The two of them sat there for a minute, bodies close: close, but not touching. Connor was trying to work up the courage to grab Kevin’s hand, when Kevin grew in a shaky breath. “Can I ask you something?” he rasped, voice low and warm.

Connor nodded slightly.

“Can I kiss you now?”

Connor didn’t even wait for the words to form in his throat, he simply leaned forward in affirmation, his hands suddenly moving to find their places on Kevin’s body, the two of them kissing each other in all the places that had occupied their minds for so long.

“Next month,” Connor broke away from Kevin’s lips long enough to breathe out: “I’m using my ten minutes to call your sister and thank her for telling you to say something.”


End file.
